2.3. Chemical Synthesis of Polypyrrole

The pyrrole monomer in this experiment was distilled at atmospheric pressure before starting polymerization. The PPy was chemically synthesized as follows: 12.4 μL of distilled pyrrole monomer was added to 2 mL of IC or KC (0.5% w/v) solution. The mixture was stirred at 21 °C for 2 h. 2 mL of IC or KC (0.5% w/v) solution was added to the mixture which was then stirred on a hot plate stirrer for 1 h. 20.3 mg of ammonium persulfate was dissolved in 1 mL of Milli-Q water, and then slowly added dropwise into the above mixture under stirring on a hot plate stirrer for 3 h at 21 °C.

The PPy was obtained by filtering the reaction mixture using a nylon membrane (pore size = 0.45 μm) and washing several times with Milli-Q water and methanol. Finally, the product was dried in a vacuum oven at 60 °C for 24 h.